Belfast is set to welcome another new hotel, apartment complex and 476 student rooms after plans were given the green light by councillors.

The city council's planning committee gave the go-ahead to a new £8million hotel in the historic Cathedral Quarter on Tuesday night.

The hotel, to be called The Waring, could create upwards of 60 full-time jobs when it opens at the end of 2017.

Councillors also approved plans for a 75 apartment complex on Chichester Street and a 476 bedroom student accommodation on the former Belfast Met site in Brunswick Street.

However, decisions on controversial plans for student accommodation on the Dublin Road and 407 bedroom student accommodation on York Street were both deferred until site visits are carried out.

The hotel plans, from the former owners of The Kremlin, were approved as The Waring becomes the latest hotel planned for Belfast city centre.

The 63 bedroom establishment is on the site of the former War Memorial Building on Waring Street.

Business partners Andre Graham and Seamus Sweeney bought the building for £1.2million last year, after selling The Kremlin, Union Street and Shoe Factory for £3million in 2014.

Mr Sweeney said: "We are delighted that planning has recognised the merit and potential of our scheme at a time when Belfast is on the very cusp of such significant growth.

"With the development of the new Ulster University Campus well under way and the anticipated growth from changes to corporation tax in early 2018, plus other major developments such as the expanded Waterfront Hall, The Waring is perfectly placed to take advantage of the growing demand for hotel rooms, evidenced by and the strong price and occupancy growth rates recently published for Belfast and Northern Ireland.

"It will offer 63-beds over five floors and create upwards of 60 full-time jobs when it opens towards the end of 2017. Our aim is to create a designer hotel which will be as unique as the building itself - one of only two listed buildings from the Fifties.

"However, although that decade will permeate all facets of our marketing and while the temptation is to design a facsimile of a mid-century hotel, we also want to develop a unique timeless design concept which will be something completely new for Belfast. And already we have some of the most exciting international designers investigating the possibilities for us.

"Indeed, the fact that the notoriously laborious planning process took just three months is testimony to the excitement felt by everyone involved in this project – from our award-winning architects McGonigle McGrath and consultant Barry Owens, through to the planners themselves and the Council."

Mr Graham said The Waring would be aimed at the younger end of the professional demographic.

"We’ll be targeting the regular business and weekend travellers coming to enjoy what's been recently highlighted as one of Europe's 'must visit' destinations," he added.

"Belfast's reputation as a young, cool, well-educated and vibrant city will be reflected in the laid back and keen to please culture that will be central to the hotel’s operation."

Artist impressions of hotel

The hotel will also play on its historic location as one of the city’s oldest entries, Sugar House Lane, marks one of its boundaries.

The entry, between Waring and High Street, could once again be a bustling thoroughfare if it is opened by the developers as part of their hotel scheme, subject to planning.

The entry was made famous by its Dr Franklin’s Public House, where Henry Joy McCracken first formed the United Irishmen as a secret society called The Muddlers Club.

In a nod to its history, The Waring’s restaurant, bar and café will be called Franklin's.